GPI 2017 Monaco Grand Prix | Page 156

REVIEW BY BEN STEVENS Moving from the young to the old, all eyes were naturally on the one-off return of 2009 world champion and hair gel enthusiast Jenson Button to the grid, and based on his early running, well… let’s just say it’s a good thing he didn’t have to travel far. Try as he might, the MCL32 remains less than competitive, even with the lack of emphasis on power around the principality. On the bright side, seven months since he last stepped in a race car (and a very different one at that), Button managed to finish just 0.035s off teammate Stoffel Vandoorne in FP2 – mighty impressive, especially given he hasn’t read the manual. Also his “pass” on Lewis Hamilton down into the Nouvelle chicane might be the highlight of McLaren’s season. Never change, JB. Elsewhere the talk of Thursday had to be the performances of Red Bull, both senior and junior. All four cars finished in the top 6, with Daniel Ricciardo splitting the Ferraris in the top 3, and Daniil Kvyat looking like a first-team driver after holding off both Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen. With Mercedes struggling to setup the car, it might be down to the bulls to stop Ferrari from securing their first Monaco pole since 2008 – although with Vettel nearly half a second clear at the top, you wouldn’t bet on it.